Piano attachment.



STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

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mm ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mar. 14:, 1916.

Application filed May-7, 1913. Serial 110.7,987.

of Oshkosh, in the county of Winnebago and.

State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in PianoAttachments,

of which the following is a description, ref-- erence being had to theaccompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in piano attachments and moreparticularly to attachments for controlling the playing of other musicalinstruments, remotely positioned, at the same time the piano is played.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a pianoattachment which may be built into and form part of the piano .and beactuated by the key mechanism of the piano to play musical instrumentsremotely positioned. i

A further object of the invention is to provide a piano attachment inthe form of a contact plate which is adapted to be mov-v ably mountedwithin a piano and positioned to be actuated by the key mechanism of thepiano when desired while the piano is being played.

A further object. of the invention is to provide a piano attachment forpianos and other like instruments for electrically actuating musicalinstruments located exteriorly of the piano.

A further object of the invention is to provide a piano attachment whichis of simple construction and may be easily mounted within any adaptedfor the purpose desired.-

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of theimproved piano attachment and its partsfand combinations as set forth inthe claims and all equivalents thereof. i In the accompanying drawingin:.which the same reference charactersindicate the same parts in all ofthe views: Figural is a side view of the upper portion of a l :eymechanism of a-piano provided with the n' proved attachment, a portionof thejfpia and the attachment bein shown in sectionand an electricalcircuit, eingindicated in diagram. Fig. 2 is a; transverse sectionalview of a portion of. a piano showing a modified form of attachment inposition-to be actuated by the piano keys Fig. 3. is a similar view ofanother 'modi ed. form of piano and which is well Init the attachment;Fig.4 is a similar view of another modification; and Fig. 5 is a topdetail view of a fragment of the contact board and part of the action.

Referring to the drawing and particularly to Fig. 1 the numeral 8indicates a portion of a piano of ordinary construction, 9 one of thepiano keys thereof and '10. the key mechanism or action actuated bya-pressure on the key.

The piano attachment consists of a fixed contact board 11 formed offiber or other insulating material upon which are mounted a series of.spring contact members 12 (only one being shown)v positioned to contactwith a metal contact strip 13 located above .the said contact memberswhen the piano key is depressed. In the form shown in this figure thecontact member projects beyond the contact board to a position slightlyabove oneof the upward swinging levers or wippens 14 of the action 10 ofthe piano and will be moved into contact with the contact strip 13 whenthe mechanism is actuated by the key. An electric bell or other musicalinstrument 15 is connected to the spring contact by circuit wire circuitwhen a contact is made.

. While only one contact member and one musical note or instrument areshown in some of the views it is to be understood that the number ofcontact members will correspond to, the number of musical notes orinstruments used. 1 i

In the form shown in Fig. 2 the contact board 11 is mounted above thekeys-9 and is provided with a spring contact 12 and a Contact post 19.Circuit wires 16 and 17 are connected to these parts in the same mannerbefore. described with relation to "Fig; 11 andithe parts are actuatedin the samema-nner by depressing the keys.

the Fig. 3 form the contact board 11 sitioned beneath the piano keys andis ;.moiiiited on'the upper end of a pedal bar j20 controlled by a edal21 so that when the pedal is presse downwardly the contact board will beraised upwardly to perpiano key. to engage the s ring contact 12 andmove it against t e contact post 19 when the key is pressed downits Q Ig 1,174,957

wardly. The spring contact and the contact post are mounted on thecontact board 11' and the circuit wires 16 and l7" are connected in thesame manner before described.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 4 the spring contact 12" is mountedon a vertically moving part or abstract 22 of the piano actionlO and thecontact strip 13 is positioned just above the contact so that the upwardmovement of the piano action will move the contact against the strip andcomplete the circuit. These parts also have the circuit wires 16 and 17connected in the same manner before described.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the piano attachmentis of simple constructionand may be easily placed within a piano atdifferent points and when properly positioned the operator may play.

the piano and at the same time play a number of other instruments or mayif desired only'play the piano.

at I claim as my invention is:

1. In combination, with a piano, an at-' tachment therefor comprising acontact board, an electric circuit including a' source and branchcircuits'and a contact in each branch circuit, said contacts locatedtobe moved by the key of the piano to complete into the paths of movementof the keys to said circuit, means for moving said contacts be actuatedthereby, and a plurality of electrically operated musical instruments,one included in each branch circuit and operated-upon the closing of itscircuit by the depression of the corresponding piano key.

2. In combination, with the key mechanism of a piano, an attachmenttherefor comprising a movable member, an electric circuit including asource and branch oil'- cuits and a contact in each branch circuitcarried by said movable member, said contacts located to beindependently actuated by the keys of the piano, a plurality ofelectrically operated musical instruments, one

included in each branch circuit and operated

